Middle East

ARIEL SHARON appears to be biting the hand that feeds him. The
assassination of another leading Hamas activist by an Israeli hit squad
has further undermined George Bush’s efforts to put a lid on the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict through its ’road map’ peace initiative.

The following article was written before the announcement of a temporary
ceasefire by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa brigades. This
ceasefire may have raised hopes that the Road Map could bring about a
sharp reduction in the bloodshed for a sustained length of time.
However, as the article explains the Road Map gives no answers to the
terrible conditions faced by the Palestinians and the huge difficulty of
achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East under capitalism. CWI
online.

Sharon’s deadly assassination squads

This apparent wrecking strategy of Sharon comes only weeks after the US
Congress approved a massive $9 billion loans package to bolster Israel’s
faltering economy.

US secretary of state Colin Powell, attending the World Economic Summit
in neighbouring Jordan, barely concealed his anger at the Israeli
government’s action. He said the murder of Abdullah Qawasmeh in Hebron
was a "matter of concern" that "could be an impediment to progress".
However, Sharon had no regrets, saying the assassination was "a vital
action designed to provide security for Israel’s citizens".

In fact, such actions will guarantee a retaliatory strike against
Israeli citizens by Hamas, which has spurned attempts by Egypt and the
US-approved Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Abbas to secure a
ceasefire from the various Palestinian militias.

Another indication of Sharon’s insincerity is his attitude to the
’illegal’ Jewish settlements in the West Bank. These settlements on
Palestinian territory have flourished since Sharon became PM in 2001,
despite some token dismantling in recent days of some ’hilltop
settlements’. Sharon reportedly said last week that the settlers should
continue to build, albeit more discreetly.

So it’s hardly surprising that most Palestinians are rightly cynical of
the road map achieving anything positive, let alone a "viable
Palestinian state". What they see is only a continuation of the
occupation, oppression and impoverishment as the Israeli government’s
response to the Intifada.

Many Israelis also remain sceptical of peace under Sharon’s leadership.
An Israeli newspaper opinion poll found that 40% of Israelis believe
that the recent assassination attempt of Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi was a
deliberate act to wreck the road map - 67% want these assassinations to
stop to enable peace talks.

Not that the road map, with its lack of concrete measures to resolve
such issues as the right of return of Palestinian refugees, the status
of Jerusalem, the financing of a ’viable Palestinian state’ etc. offers
a way forward for the working classes of the region.

George Bush’s plan is designed to bolster pro-US Arab regimes whose
populations are incandescent at the US invasion of Iraq and the
continuing national oppression of the Palestinians.

The only viable solution to the wars, national conflicts, grinding
poverty and extremes of inequality of the Middle East is the
transformation of the region through the building of mass revolutionary
socialist movements.

People’s Mojahedin - victims of imperialist rivalry

TWELVE MEMBERS of the exiled Iranian People’s Mojahedin (MKO) have set
themselves alight in a number of European capitals, including London, in
protest at the arrest and detention of 160 MKO members in France.

The French authorities are to investigate 17 MKO members for "conspiring
with a terrorist organisation". Eleven are being held in custody
including MKO leader Maryam Rajavi.

The MKO is the political wing of the Mojahedin Khalq guerrillas who
oppose the Iranian regime. The People’s Mojahedin, a curious blend of
Islam and ’Marxism’, was a prominent force on the left during the early
days of the 1978-79 Iranian revolution before being banished under
Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime (see the socialist 14 June).

Its 10,000-strong militia has military bases inside Iraq and had enjoyed
the patronage of Saddam Hussein. These bases were bombed by US forces
during operation ’shock and awe’. The guerrillas have subsequently
agreed to disarm since the US occupation of Iraq.

The MKO has found itself the victim of inter-imperialist rivalry between
the EU, principally the French government and the US. The US has
targeted Iran as part of an "axis of evil" that aids and abets terrorism
and that is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. It has
opportunistically encouraged regime change during the recent student-led
protests against Iran’s clerical leaders.

However, the French government is pursuing its own imperialist policy to
cultivate its capitalist interests in the Arab and Muslim countries of
the Middle East. This includes maintaining friendly trade and diplomatic
relations with Tehran, hence the arrests of the MKO members at its Paris
compound.

Imperialist wishes 1

AS THE US-led occupation of Iraq faces mounting opposition, the
occupying forces keep up their aim of making the country into a
’free-market economy’. The US wants more privatisation - moving
resources and workers from state enterprises to what they hope will be
profit-making private-sector ventures.

Paul Bremer, US ’civil administrator’ for Iraq, acknowledged that this
move would exacerbate social relations - mainly with mass sackings.
Bremer made vague promises of some kind of "social safety net", paid for
by Iraq’s oil!

Who’ll gain most if this plan comes to fruition? The oil companies,
mainly in the USA, and other big business enterprises, including a few
Iraqi fat cats.

Imperialist wishes 2

TOP MAGAZINES in Britain’s construction and civil engineering are
running a conference on business opportunities arising from the Iraq
reconstruction process.

They will advise big business (or small business wanting to grow fat) on
"the realities of doing business in Iraq", on "the challenges of doing
business in a country which has been closed to business over the past
decade" and other issues such as "developing an effective risk
management strategy" in "what will become one of the fastest growing
economies in the world".

Well, that’s that sorted then. After years of warfare at various levels,
years of sanctions which "closed Iraq" to trade and had a devastating
effect on the population, big business can see light at the end of the
tunnel. For themselves!

Military big spenders

THE WAR in Iraq pushed global spending on military purposes up 6% last
year, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Expanding at twice the rate of the year before, it has now grown to $794
billion (£500 billion a year).

US imperialism - responsible for three-quarters of the increase -
accounted for 43% of global military spending last year (up from 36%).
Washington spent an alarming $336 billion ($210 billion) on arms.

What’s more, US defence budget estimates for 2003 showed a planned 32%
increase in arms procurement over the 2002-2007 period, in line with
ideas of a new global ’Pax Americana’ with "full spectrum dominance".

Other world powers find it hard to keep up. Western Europe’s arms
spending actually went down. Russia overtook the US as the world’s
biggest arms exporter while China, with imports estimated at growing 18%
in 2002, was the biggest importer of arms.

India and Pakistan, which came close to nuclear conflagration last year,
both vastly increased their arms imports last year - India’s 72% rise in
imports making it the world’s second largest buyer of arms from abroad.

From The Socialist, paper of the Socialist Party, CWI in England and
Wales